Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Personalized Summer Journals

It's been fun reading everyone's responses to their favorite thing they love about Mod Podge in the giveaway, and I was even surprised to hear that some of you have never tried working with it before. For those of you that are brand new to Mod Podge, I wanted to share an easy tutorial to get your feet wet; these personalized summer journals. Taylor and a friend will soon be starting a fun week at the beach for Under The Sea camp, so I thought it would be great for them to each have a special journal to keep track of memories of the week, and for the rest of summer for that matter.

The journals I found at Michael's in the dollar bin were cute on their own, but since I wanted them to be a bit more personalized, I gathered up a few supplies to make it happen. You'll need a journal (the harder the cover the better, these are a really thick cardboard), some cute paper (mine is from Paper Source), Mod Podge in Matte, Mod Podge Podgeable Shapes, an applicator brush, letter stickers, and optional if you'd like to stencil on a shape, a stencil and paint.

Begin by tracing and cutting out your piece of paper, 1 for each side. I liked the red binding so I cut accordingly to keep that in the design.

Cut out the corners of your paper so they fit around each corner nice and neat and fold over paper.

Paint a thin layer of Mod Podge all over the cover of the journal. It's very important that you apply the Mod Podge first before applying your paper. I did a trial run and forgot this since it had been a while since working with Mod Podge in this way, and I spread the Mod Podge over the paper and it just created a bubbly, wrinkly mess.

Lay your paper in place over the cover and smooth out any slight wrinkles or bubbles. This is cimpletely normal so don't fret, just get a straight edge ruler or soemthing and gently work out the bubbles and wrinkles. Lay a thin layer of Mod Podge over the wrapped paper to secure in place as well.

Next to personalize the podgeable name plate. Apply your stickers, then if you wish, you can add a cute paper backing to have peek through. Spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the back of the podgeable, and then lay your cut piece of printed paper right side down. Spread another thin layer of Mod Podge on back of the podgeable and stick in place on your journal.

Add a final thin layer of Mod Podge on the binding of the book where the paper meets the binding just to make sure to secure in place and let dry. Once your journal is dry, you can add on your stencil if you wish.

The final result is a sweet personalized journal to give as a gift or keep for yourself. Total project time was less than 30 minutes, not counting drying time, which is minimal. If your layers are thin, Mod Podge usually dries enough to be handled in under an hour, but allow more time before fully using. Let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to enter the giveaway!